Car seal



E. BQRLAND Feb 14, w50

CAR SEAL Filed 06%. 1l. 194.7

sisi..

IN VEN TOR.

Patented Feb. 14, 1950 2,497,434 CAR ,SEAL Bruce Borland, Chicago, Ill.Application October 11, 1947, Serial No. 779,353

Claims. (Cl. 292-317) This invention relates to seals which are "adaptedfor various sealing or protective pur- 'l poses, but which areespecially used for sealing cars. Heretofore various devices of thiskind have been used, some being closed by means ci" a sealing press andothers being fastened by resilient fastening tongues or members. Inacjcordance with the present invention, I provide I a seal havingintegrally formed fastening prongs or tongues which are preferablyclinched orcrimped into positive sealing engagement by means of handpressure, thus avoiding the neces- `sity of using a sealing press andalso insuring a more positive fastening or seal.

The objects of this invention are to providev an improved seal made of asingle strip of metal which may be manufactured at low cost and :whichwill be particularly easy to fasten and efcient in operation; to providea seal having a movable button or part with locking prongs which may bebent to fastening position by hand pressure; and to provide such othernovel features and advantages as will appear from thev followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the seal in locked or fastenedposition;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the blank used for making the seal;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially on the line3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view showing the fastening parts in normalposition;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 4 for showing the fastening means inclosed or fastening position; and

Fig. 8 is a sectional View taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. 7.

The seal I0 as shown in Fig. 1 is made of a single strip lI of tin orsheet metal of the kind commonly used for such purposes. An elongatedbutton I2 is punched or formed up in one end of the strip and has aplurality `of bendable tongues or prongs I3 and I 4' which extendinwardly around the edges thereof. These prongs are preferably formedintegrally with the button and the side prongs have front edges I4 whichare at right angles to the strip and beveled ends I5. Another prong I6is bent downwardly at the end of the strip adjacent to the button I2.Ad-

jacent'to this end, the strip has an enlarged por- 65 tion I1 with a cupor depression I8 having a hole I9 for receiving the button I2 when theseparts are folded together as shown in Fig. 4. When the portioncontaining the button is folded inwardly, it will be noted that it willt freely within the cup I8 and with the button extending outwardlythrough the hole I9.

The strip has tanother enlarged portion adjacent to the enlarged portionI'I which has a. depressed elongated central portion 2| having slopingsides 22 which are adapted to coact with VMthe locking tongues or prongswhen the seal is to be fastened. The parts I'I and 20 are foldedtogether along the transverse line 23 so that their outwardly extendingedges or flanges 24 and 25 will be pressed together and are secured inthis position by welding or the like.

The locking section 20 also has a tapered or beveled wall 2B adjacent tothe end for guiding 20 the outer end of the sealinto its locking chamberthrough the opening 21.

The outer or free endof the strip II is pro- Ivided with holes 28 whichare adapted to be engaged by the prongs I3 and also with aI transversehole 29 which is adapted to be engaged by the prong I4', and atransverse hole 30 which is adapted to be engaged by the tongue I6.

When the end portions of the seal which have just been described havebeen folded together as shown and secured by welding or otherwise, theyform a locking head for receiving the free end of the strip. When thisend is inserted in the locking head as shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the holes28, 29 and 30 will be in position to receive the corresponding tonguesor prongs which extend inwardly from the button. The seal is then closedor fastened by pressing in on the button which causes the tongues .I3and I4' to enter the respective holes and their ends will engage withthe inner surface of the depressed portion 2l which acts as an anvil tobend the ends inwardly and clinch or crimp them into locking position asshown in Figs. '7 and 8.

It will also be noted that the projection I6 will enter the slot or hole30 and further serve in securing the end portion of the strip in lockingor sealed position. This sealing operation may be quickly and easilydone and a substan tially permanent seal is provided which must v bebroken in order to remove the same from the car and after being brokencannot readily be arranged to prevent disclosure of such breakageparticularly if any unwarranted tampering was attempted. i

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A car seal consisting of a sealing strip having holes adjacent to thefree end, a casing at the opposite end, a button movably mounted in thecasing and normally held in extended position, bendable prongs extendinginwardly from the button and adapted to engage said holes when the freeend is inserted in the casing, the arrangement being suchithat'fthebuttonfinay be pressed inwardlyto clinch the'prongs' against thepppositeside of the casing to fasten the free enclin locking position and tohold the button in de` pressed position.

2. A blank for forming a car seal, consisting of a strip of tin, havingan end section provided with a raised button-like projection.withliexiblel prongs extending on the opposite side of the which areadapted to register with the tongues when it is inserted in the casing,the arrangement being such that when the button is pressed, the tongueswill be forced through the holes and clinched against the surface of theopposite side of the casing.

4. A car seal, comprising a metallic strip having a longitudinallyarranged pocket at one end and a manually operable fastening button'mnun'te'd.A in saidzpocket land extending outwardly fthrough 'anopening therein, integrallyv formed y bendable prongs extending inwardlyfrom the Ybutton, the free end of the strip having holes -adapted toregister with said prongs when inserted in the pocket through an openingin one `rend thereof, the arrangement being such that when the free endis inserted in the pocket, the

' Vbutton may be depressed to clinch the prongs projection, a secondsection adjacent tothe first"v named section havinga depressed portionfor receivingthe ffirst named.-se.ction and havingy an opening adaptedto receive the button-like gpro- `jection, vand a Athird section-havinga depressed portion adaptedto serve as an anvil forclinching the prongs,and.;a's trip extending from the f last named'section vpro'-.fide.d withholes adjacent to the end thereof adapted to receive the prongs fwhenftheseal4 is to be locked.

3. A -car seal formed ofasingle strip with a button punched. thereinadjacent to one fendy thereof and having integrally formed tonguesextending from the button on theopposite side of the strip, a widenedportion adjacent to the ,button-portion.havinga vcup extending on thevside oppositeirom the button -andprovided with a hole orreceivingthebutton .when Ait isfolded over into the cup section Aandasecond enlargedportionv having `a longitudinal depression. with sloping sides,saidenlarged yportionsbeing folded together and welded or otherwisesecured to form.

a casingk with an openingA for receiving the free end of .the rstripwhich extends outwardly from the last named section, the Iree endhaving` holes lof/"bending them against the opposite side of the pocketand fasten the free end securely in the pocket. f

5. .In a. seal` ythe combination of la metallic handhavingalockingcap atoneend, a manually v`operable sealing ,member .n'iountedinthe` cap-andproj ecting outwardlythrougha hole therein,l said sealing Amember having.a A.plurality of .inwardly extending projections, the kfreeendof theband having -a plurality of. ,holes adapted to register with saidprojections, the. arrangement .being .,such that when themanually.operablememberfis depressed, the projections willengage withthe holes inthe band ,and some oisaid .projections will be clinched bybeingbent inwardly against the opposite side of ,thecap BRUCEBORLAND.

REFERENCES CITED The following references nare yof record 'in the le-ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PA'TEN'IS Name .Date Foote `VOct. 6, ,-1885 Number

